Tuesday, March 03, 2015, 4:46 p.m.

Arkansas state-owned cars

The following databases are part of an ongoing series of stories on the use of state vehicles by state employees across all agencies. According to Gov. Mike Beebe's office, there are 8,653 such vehicles in use. Of those, about 2,000 are allowed for commuting. In some agencies, the number of cars with a commuter status can change each pay period, so the numbers provided are snapshot from when the database was created.

The breakdown of the 8,653 state vehicles is such:
• 3,003 are in the Game and Fish Commission and the Highway Department
• 1,492 in colleges and universities
• 1,823 in law-enforcement agencies
• 775 in natural resource agencies
• 570 in the Health and Human Services departments
• 108 offices of legislative branch and elected officials
• 882 for state boards and commissions

This information from the state Department of Finance and Administration shows the 292 state executive branch employees authorized to commute between home and work under the state's "official business only" policy on the use of state vehicles. The list covers employees working for the parts of government that are under the governor's direct authority.

Employees of the Highway Department, the Game and Fish Commission and the state constitutional officers are by law independent and not included in this list.

Being on this list is not an indicator that any of these employees should or should not pay any tax on the use of the vehicles nor who did or did not pay tax on the use of the vehicle.